


soulmates make no sense sometimes

by kbirb



Series: Soulmate AUs [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Gen, I'm Sorry, M/M, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, i love him dearly and i kind of write his abuse reactions the way i reacted to my abuse??, i needed scott to have tragedy too, isaac is an abuse victim, platonic sciles, romantic scisaac, soulmates are lovely, spoiler: "major character death" means allison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 18:30:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4315770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbirb/pseuds/kbirb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which you can have platonic soulmates, romantic soulmates, sexual soulmates, polyamorous relationship soulmates, complete soulmates, or none at all. You can have multiple, at different times, or you could never meet your soulmate. Isaac is convinced he'll never get a soulmate, Scott had more than one.</p>
<p><i>“But first, I’d have to make real friends and develop real connections,” he pointed out when she insisted he was worrying for nothing.</i><br/>“Isn’t that what you’re here for?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	soulmates make no sense sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know. I just spat out 4,000+ words. Is this even a story? Do they even make sense in the order they're strung? It's 2 am and I should sleep... but have a soulmate AU, because the world totally needed another one of these.

Isaac was pretty much convinced he was going to die alone. Or end up marrying the wrong person out of a sheer desperation on both of their parts. In a world where you needed to touch someone “affectionately” to discover that they were your soulmate, he was left with very little chance of making that discovery. After all, hugs felt tight and claustrophobic, like he was going to be trapped somewhere again.

When Isaac moved in with his aunt and uncle after his dad died, they noticed that he was always skittish. While they knew enough to understand, they decided that therapy was necessary. He explained to his therapist that he knew he’d be alone, and she called him a bit of a pessimist. All he could think was _well, duh_. She was full of optimistic suggestions for how this soulmate issue might work itself out. For instance, high fives were affectionate, and so is hand holding or bumping elbows at a joke. And, maybe he didn’t need to have a romantic soulmate, maybe he would end up with a platonic one. That was the real kicker- some people might get two or more kinds of soulmates, and some people (aka Isaac) would get none.

“But first, I’d have to make real friends and develop real connections,” he pointed out when she insisted he was worrying for nothing.

“Isn’t that what you’re here for?”

He bit back a snide remark and slumped down in his seat. _Therapy is dumb_ , he decided.

College orientation was also dumb, which Isaac told Dr. Brown a week before he was going to have to fly from Texas back to California. They had a lot to talk about; she was determined to get him to a place where being trapped on a plane didn’t cause a panic attack. And, he needed to behave pleasantly towards people. The problem was that Isaac had these walls around him that he was comfortable hiding behind. They were high and impenetrable, with defenses as strong as the ones Hogwarts used. These walls had been building themselves since Isaac could remember. He equipped himself with biting sarcasm, mild aggression, and extreme trust issues; he could perch just behind the wall and shoot words. Isaac liked words, it’s why he was going to be an English major. The walls were safe and words were safe. So, on one hand, he didn’t trust the world enough to take the walls down. On the other, he was sick of being lonely and anxious and sad all the time. To him, this was a Catch 22 situation. To his therapist, there was only one logical choice: break down the walls.

\--

When Scott received his soulmate mark, he’d been kissing Allison. There was a burning pain on his bicep, one he recognized from childhood, and a thick black band appeared on his arm. It looked like a tattoo, and so did Allison’s little crescent moon marking on her wrist. Her hand had been gripping his arm.

When Allison died a month before their senior year, it was a cruel twist of fate that rocked Scott’s world to the core. A drunk driver had hit her and her best friend, Lydia, on their way back from dinner. Lydia had survived, but only barely, and by poor luck of trajectory. Stiles, Scott’s best friend, had stolen a police radio from his father, and so he and Scott heard the call and rushed to the scene. Scott held Allisons hand on the ambulance ride. She died before they could get to the hospital, where his mom would have been able to save her life.

“I love you,” she whispered. “My first love, my only…”

He kissed the mark on her wrist as the light left her eyes. “Forever.”

Senior year was hard for all of them. Lydia was wracked with survivor’s guilt and more often than not, could be found crying in the bathroom between classes for the first few months. Stiles, on the other hand, just felt helpless all the time. Scott was lost and wished he could anchor himself to the world again. He wasn’t sure what worse- the fact that his soulmate mark wouldn’t go away or the idea that it could.

Applying to colleges without her just felt so wrong, but Scott figured out how to power through it all. He even got into more than one college and they all had impressive pre-veterinary programs; Chapman College, which was his top choice, offered him a lot of financial aid. It had been Allison’s first choice, as well, so he wasn’t sure that he could make it. Life without her were just…

By the time move in day rolled around, Scott felt a lot better. They all did, and as they went their separate ways, there was a bittersweet feeling to it. He and Stiles drove up in the Jeep, with Melissa and John following them. This school hadn’t been Stiles’ first choice, but he’d long since decided to go wherever Scott went. Which meant college, too. Ridiculous, but Scott was grateful to have someone with him. How he did anything without his friends, his little pack of people, was a mystery to him.  

\--

_5 things that are cool about college:_

  1. _People actually find me (or at least my style) attractive_

  2. _All you can eat dining halls (plural!)_

  3. _Living with Scott 24/7_

  4. _Not having class on Friday, man I lucked out_

  5. _Classes are actually interesting_




_5 things that are not cool:_

  1. _8:30 classes (no offense, professor)_

  2. _Stomach aches from eating far too much dining food_

  3. _People keep making Scott sad_

  4. _The annoying kid who sits next to me in my freshman seminar_

  5. _Group projects (!!)_




Stiles had English 101 at 8:30 on Tuesday/Thursday. As far as morning classes went, it was a good one to have, the least offensive and taxing option, really. Plus, Stiles had long ago learned the merits of a strong cup of coffee, and Professor Ingram was a solid guy. He just hating waking up for it. At least Scott was in the class. There was no awkward silent pants dance for Stiles or Scott before the sun was all the way up.

Poor Scott though. He couldn’t wear a t-shirt without being asked about The Mark. People either made a remark like “cool tat” and then asked about meaning, or they inquired about his soulmate. If Stiles was there, he’d ward them off with jokes about platonic love or say they had a class to do to. But Scott always got this sad puppy look in his eyes, even if he was laughing at what Stiles said to the person playing 20 questions with them.

Stiles put his two little lists on the professor’s desk. They had to do an exit ticket each time class met, hence the lists. They were developed from the prompt “write something that opposes the second thing.” The prompts were either super vague (today) or super specific.

When Scott and Stiles got back to their room, Scott pulled out his laptop and started working on his Biology homework. He liked to sit in bed, mostly because the desk chairs sucked at their school, and your butt usually went numb after a half an hour. Stiles decided a nap sounded like a better idea, so he curled up next to Scott.

“You do have your own bed,” his best friend pointed out.

Stiles muttered something incoherent and just pushed in closer. When they were kids, they used to nap together all the time. They received their platonic marks the first time they took a nap together. They were a mess of tangled toddler limbs, and both of them got a burning pain in their ankles. Being so little, they ran down to Mrs. Mccall in confusion, and she slowly explained the concept of best friend soulmates to them. Marks like these, they were really light, looking more like scars than anything else. Stiles and Scott’s matched perfectly, a little ‘S’ shaped squiggle.

Napping together had ended years ago, but then Allison died, and Scott started having nightmares. More often than not, one of them was sleeping over the others house during senior year. Sharing a bed was normal again, and it was platonic and comforting.

Next thing Stiles knows, Scott is lightly shaking him awake. He groans, only opening his eyes when the enticing smell of movie butter popcorn hits his nose.

“My seminar is cancelled,” he mumbled, refusing to let buttery goodness lure him out of bed.

“Yeah, but you do still have to work on that project,” Scott reminded him. “And your classmate is here.”

“Shit,” Stiles sighed, fumbling for his glasses. He climbed out of the bed.

Isaac, the annoying asshole from his seminar was standing uncomfortably in the doorway. Points 4 and 5 from Stiles’ list of negatives - this kid and this project. Great.

\--

After an hour of working on a project, Isaac had made two discoveries: Stiles was as annoying out of class as he was in it and his roommate was nice enough but a little weird.

“I’m Scott,” he’d said, extending a hand. “Are you Isaac?”

“Uh, Isaac…” he’d replied slowly, not even thinking to shake the guy’s hand. “Yeah, that’s me. Is Stiles here or?”

He proceeded to agonize about not shaking hands with Scott, wondering what Dr. Brown would have had to say about that. Dr. B had insisted Isaac see someone at the school, which had so far been awful. Despite the new therapist having his files, she’d made him rehash all of his childhood traumas. If anything, their first few meetings had caused Isaac to regress, not progress. Which wasn’t fair and made him miss Dr. B and Texas.

Now he felt all panicky and awkward about intruding on Scott and Stiles’ space, but didn’t want anyone to notice. So he focused on the task at hand and willed his extremities not to shake. They ended up spending the entire first hour discussing how to do the project, but not coming to any good conclusion. Stiles just kept talking and getting distracted, and they both didn’t like the others ideas. It didn’t help that the assignment was so vague. The seminar itself was about social media, and their first group project was to raise awareness for an issue by running a social media account together. For an entire month. Stiles wanted to run some sort of blog, but Isaac vetoed him, because twitter would be more logical for both of them to use. They bounced between sharing platforms- tumblr, twitter, Facebook, Vine, Instagram. They even discussed using a gofundme page until Isaac finally got fed up.

“Here’s a plan. Before we figure out how to share, we consider what?”

Stiles (shockingly) conceded that, yes, that did make more sense. But then he made the innocent mistake of saying “I think it would be great to talk about child abuse!”

Isaac froze up. Like, he visibly went rigid, and the other two noticed. They were shooting worried looks at each other. While they communicated silently to each other, Isaac started internally repeating safe statements.

_You’re safe. You do not have to share your story. No one will hurt you. They don’t understand. You’re not crazy or strange. Dad is dead. You are strong. You can do this. Breathe, relax, unclench your fists. In and out, slowly. Good._

Before Stiles or Scott could say anything to him, Isaac spoke up. “I’m not really up for telling you guys about my life or explaining jack shit, but can we just… let’s avoid that topic. It’s a good cause, but… no. Yeah. Something less touchy, maybe? Like we could talk about inherent racism in America? Or maybe the LGBT+ movement in our soulmate driven community? Hey, even drunk driving would be preferable for me…” he trailed off as Stiles quickly looked at Scott. The boy’s face had changed and he was biting his lip. A sad darkness had gone over his eyes. Isaac didn’t know what to do except to try and say sorry.

“LGBT?” Stiles said. “Sounds like a plan.”

They decided informational videos uploaded to Youtube about different sexualities, genders, and romantic orientations was a good place to start. Isaac was happy to make the decision and even happier to leave. That had been bad, but interacting with new people tended to be.

\--

Scott was surprised that Isaac had agreed to meet in their room again. Last time was pretty uncomfortable. The other student had gone completely white when Stiles had mentioned abuse, and then Scott had gotten a little panicky at a reminder of Allison.

“Stiles isn’t back yet,” he said apologetically. “Apparently tonight was a Ben and Jerry’s kind of night, so he ran over to the store?”

“It’s okay.” Isaac looked perpetually uncomfortable. Since he’d been over last week, Scott had noticed him a few times around campus. He was always wearing these oversized sweaters with skinny jeans, and looked like he wanted to disappear. Scott knew that feeling, he’d felt it a lot as a kid when his dad had left, and then when Allison died. Also, Isaac was always alone. Where Stiles thought the kid was weird and rude, Scott just kind of felt bad for him. Clearly, something had really affected him, and he probably didn’t mean to be so snappy all the time. He had to be lonely. Scott had at least managed to get Stiles to see how much the kid needed a friend, and since Stiles knew how to handle panic attacks like a pro, they were the best bet for him. Hence the ice cream run tonight. Supplies, just in case. Plus, Stiles just loved having mass amounts of ice cream on hand.

Scott watched as Isaac looked for a place to sit, eyeing the room like he was unsure that he even belonged there. So, in hopes it would help, Scott plopped down on his own bed. “Dude, relax. Sit anywhere. Stiles’ be here soon.”

Isaac slowly settled on the bed on the other side of the room, pulling his laptop out of his messenger bag, as well as a notebook. Scott could recognize Stiles’ scribbled writing all over the pages from across the room, and smiled affectionately. When Stiles has an idea, he would maniacally talk about it, and that often translated into writing as well. Isaac’s writing was in the margins, clear but small, making edits to certain things that Stiles had written.

As Isaac typed up the notes, Scott decided to pop some popcorn. When he came back in, Stiles was cheerfully unloading ice cream on to a desk. “I picked up a few classics, like Phish Food, and some favorites, like Half Baked. There’s a Greek Yogurt and a plain ole FroYo variation of Scott’s favorites, since he’s watching his figure. Oh and I got the Tonight Dough since I love Fallon…” Stiles finally stopped and smiled at Isaac. “So, dude, pick your poison.”

Isaac looked amazed, and grabbed a random container. A very strangled “thanks, man” came out. Scott wasn’t sure Isaac knew how to be anything but witty or bitter towards Stiles.

“Hey, Isaac, I’ll trade you a bowl of popcorn for my Phish Food froyo?” he called out, already divvying up the buttery goodness and Stiles grabbed a spoon out of the bag for Isaac.

Then, things got weird again. Scott got up to make the trade and that went just fine. Isaac hesitantly took the hot popcorn from Scott and handed over the froyo. Without thinking, because Scott was guilty of not thinking very often, he playfully hip checked Isaac to say thanks. Next thing he knew, a recognizable burning pain seared on his arm. Isaac, on the other hand, was staring at Scott with horror in his eyes.

“Guys?” Stiles asked. “You alright…?”

Scott tried to keep himself from betraying what had happened. He was luckily wearing a sweatshirt, and he contorted his face into it’s usual laid back expression. “Oh, yeah,” he smiled. “But I just remembered- I told that girl Kira from my Bio class we could study tonight.” Stiles seemed to buy it, and Scott stuffed some books in his backpack. As he left the room, he looked back to see Isaac absentmindedly rubbing his chest and Stiles chattering away.

\--

Isaac excused himself quickly, rushing down the hall from Stiles’ room into the bathroom. Lifting up his shirt, he was dismayed to see a black X shape right on top of his heart. When Isaac had worried up and down about not finding a soulmate, this isn’t really what he wanted. First of all, the guy already had a soulmate. It was obvious by the thick black band around his bicep. Isaac had noticed it the first time he’d went to the room. And, yeah, you could have more than one soulmate, but what was the protocol here? Was this a soulmate mark or a platonic mark? Can you have two living soulmates? What if one soulmate dies? Does the mark fade? Did Scott get a new mark, too, or did only Isaac feel it?

His head was full of questions and annoyances. He needed to figure out how to research this, and research it before Scott came back. Honestly, with the way Scott ran out of the room, there was no way he didn’t also receive a mark but…

Okay, he could do this. The research would be easy. He could do it all under the guise of research for their videos. They’d planned out a couple, but not the order. If he could just convince Stiles that giving people an informational video about different kinds of soulmates should come first…

That part was easy. Apparently Stiles had thought the same thing. “Yeah,” he said, leaning back in his bed. “I think some people don’t even know you can have platonic soulmates, and sexual soulmates, and romantic soulmates. Or even that you can have more than one of each kind. I only know because Scott and I have had marks since we were really little.”

He rolled up his pant leg to show Isaac what looked almost like a scar. “Are all platonic marks so faint?” If so, then this thick black mark was a problem.

They researched for the next two hours, and unearthed a lot of information. It was simultaneously extremely reassuring and not reassuring in the slightest. Because you could have polyamorous soulmates, platonic soulmates, romantic and sexual and this and that. When your soulmate dies, the mark doesn’t fade. You might not get another soulmate. Platonic soulmate marks always match, but may be a dark color or a light one. So the only way Isaac could figure this out was to talk to Scott. And Isaac hated talking.

But, he had to. Starting with Stiles might be good. “Since we’ve been talking marks and platonic soulmates, what’s going on with Scott’s arm? I haven’t wanted to ask, but I was thinking it would be useful to include in research?”

Stiles was hesitant to tell him the story, but with a bit of probing, explained it all. Turns out, Scott had a soulmate. Her name was Allison and she was made for him. Apparently she was a sweetheart, but could still kick your ass if you messed with her. They were together for two years until a drunk driver hit her. Explaining Scott’s reaction the week before to Isaac’s topic suggestion. Ouch.

“What about you,” Stiles asked. “Got any marks.”

Isaac thumbed the still burning mark on his chest. “No. I don’t do well with people.”

\--

“Shit man,” Stiles breathed, staring at Scott’s arm. After the incident with Isaac, Scott had went and hid in his friend Kira’s room until Stiles texted him worried about where he’d been for so long. Underneath the band that had developed when he’d first kissed Allison was a new band. It was just as thick, just as dark. There really was no mistaking it.

“What do I do?”

Stiles took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. It was what he did when he had, quite frankly, no fucking clue. “I dunno, but that explains Isaac’s weirdness. He and I researched the different kinds of soulmates and marks for hours that night. And he kept touching his chest.”

Marks were a tricky business. When Scott and Stiles were little, their platonic marks developed in the same spot, and were the same size and shape. With Allison, it was a symbol of where their bodies were touching, but the shapes and sizes had no correlation. Now, with Isaac, well… Scott had no idea what to do. It was the same mark as his Allison one, but one like that hadn’t developed on Isaac. No, his was probably on his chest, since he’d been rubbing it so much. No correlation to place or shape or size there.

Plus, you couldn’t tell just by looking at a mark what it meant. No, you had to evaluate your relationship with the person. But Scott didn’t even know Isaac, and Isaac didn’t even know him. And since the kid was so closed off, they probably wouldn’t ever know each other very well.

“I hate to say it, but I have to. Since the mark is just like your Allison one, I’d have to argue it’s a complete soulmate one.” Stiles ventured.

“Complete?” Scott didn’t really understand any of this.

“Yeah. While I was researching with Isaac, I learned a lot. On top of platonic, romantic, and sexual marks… We’ve got polyamorous marks and complete marks and even temporary marks.”

“Could it be temporary?”

Stiles sighed. “I wouldn’t rule it out, but I’m going to say no. Like I said, you’ve got complete marks. Complete marks symbolize the traditional soulmate. Someone you love with your mind, body, and soul. The way you and Allison were made for each other? You and Isaac were, too.” It must have hurt him to say that, because Stiles and Isaac really didn’t get along.

Scott’s head was reeling. None of this even made sense. “Isaac and Allison? They’re two different people, Stiles.”

All he got in response was a shrug.

\--

_unknown: hey, isaac, can we meet for coffee?_

_isaac lahey: i don’t like strangers having my number..._

_unknown: it’s scott._

_isaac: oh. okay. 10 am tomorrow i guess._

\--

**4 Months Later:**

Having a boyfriend was apparently really weird concept to Scott. Not that he didn’t really like Isaac, it was just that he’d always been straight. Stiles, on the other hand, Stiles was bisexual. Stiles dating a guy would be pretty normal, Isaac learned. Having a boyfriend also opened up a wealth of understanding for both Scott and Isaac.

Isaac didn’t really open up to him very quickly. Even with the overwhelming evidence that they, in some way, were soulmates, he’d taken a really long time to trust Scott. Stiles explained to him that he was probably something called demisexual. But the thing was, Isaac didn’t really need any labels. Especially since Scott had no idea how to label himself, and had an entire existential crisis over coffee one day when he realized he wanted to kiss Isaac. They had a no labels policy going on.

Before they were dating, they needed to be friends. Isaac had gone home with Scott and Stiles for Thanksgiving, and Mrs. Mccall had promised him a warm bed whenever he needed it. Isaac had missed California, he realized. Texas wasn’t the same.

When Scott and Isaac first kissed, Isaac had initiated it. It was three months into the relationship, so they’d now been dating for one. Stiles pretended to be okay with it, but Isaac was pretty convinced that he still wasn’t on “Team Scisaac.” Kira’s words for it. Isaac thought that was a gross concept, too. But he didn’t vocalize it, because it was nice to have friends, and he didn’t want to hurt her.

Around Christmas time, Isaac got to meet with Dr. B. They talked a lot about college and soulmates, and Scott Mccall. At the end of their meeting, she smiled fondly at him. “You’re finally on the road to recovery.”

Recovery was hard, but Isaac had sorted a lot of it out on his own. Having Scott helped. Isaac learned that hugs didn’t mean traps and that touching didn’t always have to be a punch. Eventually, cuddling in bed was comfortable and he wasn’t so scared when Stiles made it a group hug. Not everything had to be fight or flight; sometimes, it could be just staying right where you were. Scott was recovering, too. He was always afraid he might lose Isaac, wasn’t fond of letting him out of his sight. But Isaac didn’t want to let Scott out of his sight, so it worked both ways. Scott was afraid to lose Isaac like he lost Allison; Isaac was afraid if he left, Scott wouldn’t love him anymore. They had to grow together.

As to why Isaac’s mark was an X, he kept to himself, and let the group speculate. But for a long time, Isaac had felt like he didn’t have a heart. That he wasn’t really living. It was simultaneously a coping mechanism and a dangerous mentality. If he didn’t have a heart, then Dad’s punches and biting words meant nothing. If he wasn’t alive, he couldn’t die.

When Isaac finally met his soulmate, he was reminded where his heart was, and how to love with it. And that was more than okay.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: These characters still don't belong to me, though they should because I'd treat them with sunshine and rainbows and love. They do, however, still belong to the people who write/produce/direct/own Teen Wolf.


End file.
